Trucking Companies and Maintenance Duties

Commercial trucks travel roadways nationwide to deliver and pick up essential goods. These trucks often weigh in at 80,000 pounds fully loaded. With such a heavy load and so many hours spent on the road, it is vital that tractor-trailers be properly maintained to ensure the safety of their drivers and those traveling with them. Truckers and trucking companies have a legal duty to maintain their trucks in proper working order. If the trucking company fails to meet these duties, and an accident results, the trucking company can be held legally accountable.

At Greenberg, Stone & Urbano, our Miami truck accident attorneys understand the immense dangers of poor maintenance. Maintenance related accidents happen more often than many realize. Poor maintenance threatens all motor vehicle occupants. Our attorney team champions the rights of injured clients against the trucking companies or truckers that inflicted their injuries.

FMCSA Maintenance Requirements

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets out some federal mandates for the inspection, maintenance, and repair of heavy trucks. These rules are found in Regulation 396. Under the guidelines, all trucking companies and truckers must maintain their vehicle’s vital parts in working order. The list of vital parts is lengthy and includes tires, brakes, couplings, and almost all other important parts of a trailer or truck.

Trucks must be inspected by a qualified inspector at least once a year. The results of this examination will be included in a Driver Vehicle Examination Report. Trucks that fail basic safety testing will potentially be marked out of order and prevented from returning to commercial use until they are repaired and pass inspection.

Before setting out on the road, truckers must also fulfill basic maintenance duties. The driver must inspect a vehicle before setting out and record the results of this basic inspection in a log. Items that need to be inspected include:

Brakes

Tires

Mirrors

Horn

Windshield wipers

Wheels

Steering components

Emergency equipment

Maintenance Related Accidents

Poor truck maintenance can result in serious truck accidents. When a basic component within a truck fails, the truck could stop without warning, veer into other lanes, fail to stop in time, or suffer any other number of dangerous fates. Trucking companies and truck drivers have been known to skimp on maintenance in an effort to maximize profits.

Maintenance records should be reviewed following any accident that is potentially maintenance related. Our Miami truck accident attorney can act fast after the accident to subpoena necessary maintenance and other records. A thorough review of these records may reveal negligence on the part of the trucking company or individual driver that could prove important to your personal injury case.

Trucking companies have a stringent responsibility to ensure their fleet of trucks is in safe working order. If you are injured in a truck accident, contact the Miami Truck Accident Lawyers at Greenberg, Stone & Urbano. Our firm will promptly investigate your case to uncover whether negligence caused the accident, including improper maintenance. At Greenberg, Stone & Urbano, we bring over 130 years of combined professional experience to your case. Our Miami based law firm treats each of our client’s cases as if it were our own. We have the honor of receiving an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and were named a Top South Florida Law Firm by the Miami Herald. Call us today at (888) 499-9700 or (305) 595-2400 to schedule your free consultation. You can also contact us online.

Greenberg, Stone & Urbano

11440 N Kendall Dr, #400

Miami, FL33176

Phone: (888) 499-9700 Local: (305) 595-2400

Naples Office

999 Vanderbilt Beach Rd, #200

Naples, FL34108

Phone: (888) 499-9700Local: (239) 325-5100

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